The Life of a Crime Scene Investigator

The Life of a Crime Scene Investigator Isabella McCarty Williams Everest University Online (Orlando Campus) The Life of a Crime Scene Investigator The career I have chosen is a Crime Scene Investigator known as a CSI. In this research paper we will discuss the job details, salary, and the guidelines on collecting evidence. It is important that I cover these things to explain the importance of this career. Hope you enjoy the mind-bending information provided. Hi everyone, I am studying to be a Crime Scene Investigator (a. k. a. CSI).

When working in the criminal investigation field, there are certain things you must know or learn. It takes years of training and schooling to be a CSI when you think you are done, your wrong. CSI’s are constantly going back to school and going through more training just to keep their license. That’s enough about that right now. I wish you luck for you are in a world full of surprises! We will first be discussing the job details of a Crime Scene Investigator. A CSI works in an office of their job assignment Monday-Friday from 8:30am-4:30pm for 8 hours of fun and exciting tasks.

What I found to be interesting was a CSI must “successfully complete a minimum of 720 hours of training in crime scene processing, with a minimum of 80 hours of training in latent fingerprint processing, 40 hours in major death investigation, 40 hours in advanced death investigations, 40 hours in photography, 40 hours in blood spatter interpretation, and other training courses in arson investigation and forensic pathology. In addition, the crime scene investigator must be certified by the International Association for Identification, Crime Scene Certification Board, within 18 months as a crime scene investigator. (N. A. , Crime Scene Investigator Job Details, N. A. ) Also as a CSI you must obtain contact with the law enforcement officials at all levels, state and federal prosecutors, county coroners, medical examiners and pathologists in person or by telephone, on a professional basis. This is a great way to stay on top of the crimes and promiscuous things going on in the forensic field. These are the job details of a CSI, it is not easy becoming or staying licensed as you can tell from the previous information listed above. Next we will be talking about the salary of a Crime Scene Investigator.

CSI salary is within the range of $37,960 to $99,980 a year. Out of the many industries where CSI’s can be employed, the local government ranks the highest when it comes to providing jobs to crime scene investigators. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics says that “detectives and criminal investigators in the District of Columbia earns the highest wages; having an annual mean wage of $94,620, and an hourly mean wage of $45. 49. ” (N. A. , Crime Scene Investigator Salary, 2012) As you can see Crime Scene Investigators get a decent pay, but most of the money they receive goes to schooling and surviving.

The salary of a CSI is immaculate and definitely worth the time and effort put forth. Lastly, we will look at the guidelines for collecting evidence. When collecting evidence the guidelines are strict, they are strict because in some cases if you don’t follow them you could lose all the evidence you have. Also when taking pictures of evidence at night you have to “make sure you adjust your camera’s position, time of exposure, and supplemental lighting so the camera can “see” what you see. ” (N. A. , Crime Scene Resources, 2000-2012) Another interesting fact from this website is there are over 200 ways to collect and process a finger print.

When collecting evidence you cannot make any mistakes. If you make one mistake that could be someone’s entire life in your hands. In this essay we have reviewed the Crime Scene Investigators job details, salary, and the guidelines for collecting evidence. In conclusion, it takes a lot to become a good CSI it comes with excellent pay and great skills and knowledge. I suggest if you want to go into this field be ready to have a continuous line of schooling and be ready to face new obstacles every day.

I thank you for taking the time out to read this essay and hope you have learned and found this field as interesting as I have. References N. A. (2000-2012) Become a forensic investigator. Retrieved from http://http://www. crime-scene-investigator. net/ N. A. (2012) A crime scene investigator’s salary. Retrieved from http://www. criminaljusticeschoolinfo. com/crime-scene-investigator-salary. html N. A. (N. D. ) A crime scene investigator’s job details. Retrieved from http://www. feinc. net/csi-desc. html